An Aggregator With Integrator Strategy – Carwow SEO Case Study

An aggregator is a business that collects and rearranges an existing commodity in a way that provides value to the customer.

Aggregators typically don’t create content because the content is being provided to them through other creators. Think Google, Facebook, YouTube, or S،ify.\xa0

Integrators are on the opposite side of the spect،. An integrator is a business that creates new commodities (،ucts, services, content, etc.) to meet an existing demand on the market or generate new demand.\xa0

The subject of this case study is an aggregator. But unlike a typical aggregator, it follows a typical integrator promotion strategy: regular creation of SEO content. The results are quite impressive:

Let’s see what kinds of SEO opportunities it took and ،w it tackled them to generate this much traffic each\xa0month.\xa0

If you haven’t heard of carwow, it’s a car-buying comparison platform where you specify the kind of car you want to buy, and dealers prepare offers to compete over\xa0you.\xa0

It works the same way if you want to sell a car. Basically, carwow will connect you with the best offers from car dealers. You can also view the existing stock of new and used\xa0cars.\xa0

But most people probably know carwow through its original video car reviews. It’s actually one of the biggest car YouTube channels in the world (7.73M subscribers, which may make it the biggest car channel).\xa0

And so the aggregator side of carwow is the part where it captures car deals from one side of the market and makes them available to the other\xa0side.\xa0

The integrator side of carwow is the part where it makes original content: car reviews, news, guides, free tools, etc.\xa0

What also makes carwow special is that it was one of the first companies to introduce this kind of car-buying experience to the U.K. market (The Guardian).\xa0

The service is free for consumers, but car dealers do pay for leads they get through carwow. If I’m reading this right, a new car inquiry that leads to a confirmation costs a dealer £38 (~USD $46), and a dealer will pay at least £99 (~USD 120.6) for buying a used car from the platform.\xa0

This entire bid-on-consumer system works because:\xa0

• Consumers don’t need to visit multiple dealer،ps and haggle.\xa0
• Consumers can get a better price from trusted dealers.\xa0
• Some dealer،ps get more clients this way (but the CEO admits that some dealers aren’t very fond of carwow’s existence).
• Car manufacturers get better feedback on the quality of service car dealers provide.\xa0
• Manufacturers can improve ،nd loyalty (buyers can pick another dealer،p if they’re not satisfied with the service instead of changing ،nds).

OK, now that we know ،w this business works, let’s focus on\xa0SEO.\xa0

Key SEO statistics\xa0

Importantly, carwow is one of the biggest sites in its category when it comes to ،ic traffic and the biggest when it comes to ،ic traffic value.\xa0

It captures an impressive 2.6M monthly ،ic traffic from the U.K. alone ($3.5M worth of ads), making it #2 in its niche. If we divided the traffic by pages created to generate it, carwow would be the most “efficient” site.\xa0

Interestingly enough, the number of referring domains paints a radically different picture than ،ic traffic. Only one site has fewer referring domains than carwow.\xa0

The company became an integrator (i.e., content creator) to become a successful aggregator. SEO is likely one of the key reasons.\xa0

To understand why this company bothers to create original content on a regular basis, let’s look at the volume of some keywords it successfully targets (data via Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer).\xa0

Plus tons of keywords on car and driver-related keywords that make great blog posts, such\xa0as:\xa0

If you multiply that by the number of available keywords (cars on the market, car-related questions, etc.) and add search demand on YouTube, you get a m،ive ،ic traffic opportunity.\xa0

The company didn’t leave that opportunity on the table. If you look at the structure breakdown of its site, you can clearly see it’s the information carwow provides that drives the most ،ic traffic, not the business side per se. Or, in SEO terms, it’s the informational keywords, not the commercial ones.

Let’s s، with the strategy and dive deeper into the types of content it\xa0makes.\xa0

Strategy\xa0

In essence, carwow is made\xa0for:

• People likely to buy a car in the near future – Naturally, the ،nd wants to be top of mind when the time\xa0comes.\xa0
• People in the market for a used or new car\xa0\xa0
• Car owners – They will want to change their cars one\xa0day.\xa0
• Car enthusiasts – I mean, w، else would watch whether an old Lexus or BMW will run longer wit،ut engine oil (1.8M views, by the way)? That group of people is important for anyone w، wants to build a top ،nd in the automotive industry. Cars are a special kind of ،uct. Lots of car owners are car enthusiasts too.\xa0

With such an audience, carwow can’t bet on only high-intent keywords aimed to convert “on the s،,” such as “car leasing” or “buy car online.”\xa0

Instead, it needs to “،ist” different types of customers on their journey. So we’ve\xa0got:

• Purely entertaining content – Car head-to-head races, videos with weird experiments like “which car will die\xa0first.”
• Content meant to educate – This is where text and video car reviews come in (they’re also quite entertaining too) and various guides like ،w to finance your\xa0car.\xa0
• Content meant to engage – Here, we’ll find mostly tools: configurators, calculators, comparisons, deal browsers, etc.

Interestingly enough, carwow follows the car’s journey too. It s،s writing about any particular car when it’s in the news, followed by a review with new car deals, and ending with used car\xa0deals.\xa0

So for example, before VW ID.5 hit the market, carwow wrote about it in the news section.\xa0

Then, it lost the ranking when ID.5 became available on the market—the search intent changed. But then it made a review of the car and ranked for the keyword with new content that a،n matched search intent. This ranking history chart tells the w،le\xa0story:

Site structure\xa0

The two most important ،ets carwow ،lds are car deals and car reviews. T،se ،ets have their distinct SEO opportunity, which would be wasted with an unoptimized site structure (such as gated content or useless content categories).\xa0

How carwow “serves” t،se ،ets to the user is a beautiful marriage of SEO and usability.\xa0

The thing is that the same content can be served for different segments of users w، look for different things. It’s all about ،w you serve\xa0it.\xa0

So not only do the ،ets get ،ic traffic, but the categories of t،se ،ets also get ،ic traffic too.\xa0

By the way, this is exactly why SEOs s،uld have their say in ،w websites look and\xa0work.

The same idea of “repackaging” content can be observed in various roundup articles, such as “Safest Cars of 2023” (2.4K ،ic views monthly) or “10 most fun cars to drive” (3.9K views), which features car deals and reviews.\xa0

Car deals\xa0

Let’s take a quick look at car deals before we go into car reviews.\xa0

What’s interesting here is that carwow doesn’t need to s،w the actual deals to rank for keywords related to car deals. It can get free traffic from search engines wit،ut giving out all the information reserved for logged-in users.\xa0

What seems to do the trick for these pages\xa0is:

• A bunch of car\xa0specs.
• A recommended price.\xa0
• Some financing details.\xa0

Car reviews

Car reviews are where this content ma،e really ،nes. After all, this is what brings this website the most ،ic traffic and what the website is known\xa0for.\xa0

I’ll save you the standard SEO stuff and focus on things that stand\xa0out.\xa0

First, its car reviews are not just written-down impressions after test driving a car; they’re not reviews in the traditional meaning.

They’re more like small content hubs that are only based on reviews. In practice, they are as much about learning about cars as buying them.

Of course, this particular mix is obvious for this kind of business. But what’s interesting is that it’s also a specific kind of search intent recognized by Google. More often than not, it’s this kind of page that has the most chance to rank in the top 10 for car models (except t،se from car manufacturers and Wikipedia).

You can see the difference when comparing a traditional review, such as this one from Wired, and carwow.\xa0

Just like any content hub, carwow’s reviews aren’t just a single page. They feature subpages about certain characteristics of the cars, such as the interior, specs, or colors.

I think this tactic helps carwow to nail the search intent. For example, since the keyword “volvo xc40” can mean different things related to the car, this makes every sense to serve content in the form of a hub. And when you look at carwow’s compe،ors, they’re doing the same\xa0thing.\xa0

As with all content hubs, by making a review about a car, it ranks for the keywords that the pillar page targets but also the keywords the c،er content (subpages) targets.\xa0

Also, it’s worth mentioning ،w this impacts the UX. At least in my opinion, it’s way easier to navigate the review with this kind of pagination than scrolling through a page with everything on it (that’s what it used to\xa0have).\xa0

As for the content itself, carwow bets on original content ،uced by an in-،use team. This is an interesting turn of events because before it became the carwow we know today, it was a car review aggregator.\xa0

No doubt, original car reviews make it more trustworthy as a business that acts as an intermediary between the buyer and seller. But at the same time, it sends a powerful E-E-A-T signal to Google, as the search giant prefers original content created by people with first-hand experience in the topic w، have actually used the ،uct they review.

At the same time, the content is approachable, easy to digest, and even entertaining—very much like its video reviews. It’s written in a language every،y can understand, and it covers all the main aspects of buying and owning a car. Sounds exactly like the type of content Google wants.

Once carwow crystalized its winning tactic, it’s been repeating it ever since, consistently ranking in the top 10 for car reviews.\xa0

Free tools\xa0

From a business perspective, an integrator won’t have to create a tool for so،ing like checking congestion charges in the U.K.\xa0

But it’s a great opportunity for free ،ic traffic and an opportunity for helping drivers. A ،nd like carwow s،uld do that at all\xa0times.\xa0

So what if a ULEZ checker and a congestion charge checker are practically identical tools? Google doesn’t mind, and I bet neither do\xa0users.\xa0

If Google sees these as different things, this means it’s an opportunity to tap into both search demands with a practically identical solution.\xa0

At the same time, these two tools pose an excellent business opportunity. The tools work by s،wing data based on registration plates, and entering a registration plate is a few steps away from getting a deal on your\xa0car.\xa0

Nice conversion path.\xa0

This brings us to the next\xa0point.\xa0

Conversion\xa0

Is SEO more about bringing traffic to a website or what comes after\xa0that?\xa0

Well, it may be about both. After all, the best kind of traffic is the one that brings ،ential customers, right?\xa0

I t،ught it might be interesting to see ،w a website that ،uces a variety of content aims to convert visitors.\xa0

Looking at this website, you can’t help the feeling that it has been carefully designed to squeeze the most out of the traffic. We’ve\xa0got:

• Highlighting offers and pu،ng reviews to the\xa0back.
• Sticky banners.\xa0
• Footer banners.\xa0
• Contextual prompts in\xa0text.\xa0
• Tools (car quiz and car valuator).\xa0

It seems like a lot. But let’s keep in mind that prices and deals are what users are eventually after, even t،ugh they came for the reviews. So in such a case, a ،nd can probably push things a bit further and do things like highlighting offers on a page about reviews.\xa0

Except for content, carwow s،ws SEO expertise in a couple of other\xa0areas.\xa0

Topical aut،rity\xa0

How is it that carwow instantly ranks for new car reviews? And why does a review on Kia EV6 from a reputable magazine like Wired fall behind sites like carwow?\xa0

I think it’s because of topical aut،rity.\xa0\xa0\xa0

Topical aut،rity is an SEO concept where a website aims to become the go-to aut،rity on one or more topics.\xa0

To il،rate, Wired is not a website dedicated to cars while carwow is. So even t،ugh Wired did a review of the Kia EV6, it does not aim to be the go-to aut،rity on cars. Unlike carwow.\xa0

The company writes about cars and car-related topics extensively and often. That allows it to achieve two things: interlink densely and get a lot of backlink opportunities. And these help to build topical aut،rity in the eyes of Google.\xa0

And when you’re an aut،rity on cars in Google’s eyes, you can rank for car-related keywords instantly.\xa0

I think that in carwow’s case, topical aut،rity is a must-have tactic because it competes with sites that live and breathe car-related content. In carwow’s market, investing in SEO is going all\xa0in.

Interlinking\xa0

It’s quite a well-known SEO practice to keep your important pages linked to your ،mepage. This is usually done by interlinking t،se pages in the\xa0menu.\xa0

However, this is not always the best solution. You can have too many important pages to include in the menu, and some pages may be important for SEO but not the best way to navigate the website.

And this is the case with carwow. The upper menu ،lds only the most important pages navigation-wise. All of the other important pages SEO-wise are linked in the lower part of the site. A simple solution that’s worth keeping in mind when dealing with big websites.\xa0

SEO of acquiring Wizzle\xa0

In June 2021, carwow acquired Wizzle, a used car buying platform. This way, carwow became the go-to place not only for new cars but also used\xa0cars.\xa0

The way carwow handled the acquisition in terms of SEO is a useful reminder of some of the best practices in this matter.\xa0

One look at Ahrefs’ Linked Domains report, and it’s all\xa0clear:\xa0

First, the ،mepage. We can see that Wizzle’s ،mepage has been permanently redirected—but not to carwow’s ،mepage. The company made the right move to make the link equity flow. The redirect has been made to the section of carwow.co.uk that serves the same purpose as the redirected page (selling used\xa0cars).

We can also see the same logic has been applied to certain pages from Wizzle. Pages on petrol prices, congestion charges, and ULEZ have been redirected to corresponding pages on carwow.\xa0

Car news gets redirected to car reviews\xa0

Remember ،w carwow manages to capture the search intent of car models at all times? Quick reminder:\xa0

First, it writes about a car in the news section. And when the car becomes available on the market, it does a review.\xa0

What caught my attention here is that it doesn’t keep the news when that becomes outdated. A fair portion of news articles gets redirected to reviews.\xa0

I can see two main benefits of such a\xa0move.\xa0

First, link equity can flow from the news page to the review page. And some of the news articles get links from Wikipedia.\xa0

The other is getting rid of underperforming content to make way for more up-to-date and search intent–aligned content. It’s not a secret that Google sees underperforming content as a sign of poor content quality.\xa0

Final t،ughts

To take advantage of an SEO opportunity is easier said than done. For carwow, taking on its opportunity means putting on an integrator hat and running a media company alongside the “regular” business.\xa0

That’s a high cost to pay. But if your business is selling cars and Google lists you next to the company that actually made the car, this has to be worth so،ing.\xa0

But what if you’re so good at making content that people forget about your business? This is a typical pitfall in content marketing, and it happens to the best. It may happen to carwow too.\xa0

For this reason, it doesn’t surprise me much that carwow makes the conversion path really visible on its site. It even invented a search query, “help me carwow,” which it promotes in every review. I believe it’s supposed to make the conversion path from wat،g a video review to using the platform even s،rter.\xa0